The present invention relates to a batting tee for practicing the hitting of a ball such as a baseball or softball. In more detail, the present invention relates to a batting practice tee which utilizes a mechanism for supporting the ball which is less likely to be damaged by the impact of a bat and positions the ball in the hitter""s hitting zone and teaches a proper swing regardless of the position of the ball.
The disadvantages of prior batting tees are characterized by several prior patents directed to improved tees. Reference is made, for instance, to prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,320,343, 5,002,274, 4,886,267, 4,819,937, 4,664,374, and particularly U.S. Pat. No. 4,227,691, one of the inventors of which was for many years a fine player for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Jim LeFebvre, for a descriptions of the limitations of prior batting tees. Rather than repeat those descriptions, each of those patents is hereby incorporated herein in their entireties by this specific reference to those patents and it can simply be stated here that there is room for additional improvement in the art of batting tees. Specifically, it is an object of the present invention to address at least four limitations of those prior batting tees.
The first limitation to which the present invention is directed is the problem of damage to the mechanism for supporting the ball which is to be hit off the tee. With a wood or aluminum bat constantly impacting on the ball support mechanism, it is inevitable that the mechanism for supporting the ball on the tee will suffer, and many prior tees actually fail for this reason. It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a batting tee with a mechanism for supporting a ball which is less prone to damage from the impact of errant swings of a bat.
The second limitation to which the present invention is directed is the problem of teaching a level swing. Prior batting tees also address this limitation, but so far as is known, none actually patterns the swing to be level. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a batting tee which patterns the swing so that the bat travels through the hitting zone on an arc which is horizontal or perhaps even slightly downward.
The third limitation and/or disadvantage of prior batting tees to which the present invention is directed is the teaching of the level swing regardless of the positioning of the ball in the hitter""s hitting zone. As described in the above-incorporated prior patents, the hitting zone is the area in front of home plate in which the hitter connects with a ball in flight toward home plate before the ball reaches home plate (see, for instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,937). So far as is known, none of the prior patents discloses a batting tee which works so as to require a level swing regardless of the positioning of the ball in the hitting zone without adjusting and/or positioning some structural element of the prior tee other than the mechanism for supporting the ball in the hitting zone. In other words, none of the prior batting tees both positions the ball at any position in the hitting zone and forces a level swing regardless of the position of the ball in the hitting zone without requiring the adjustment of other structure on the tee. It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide such a tee.
A fourth limitation of prior batting tees to which the present invention is directed is preventing damage to the bat. As noted above, it is inevitable that the mechanism for supporting a ball will suffer damage since it is being struck (hopefully with as much violence as the person wielding the bat can muster) and one way to address that inevitable damage is to postpone it by using materials which are more durable. Making a batting tee more durable usually requires making it more substantial, for instance, by making it xe2x80x9cheavy duty.xe2x80x9d Making a batting tee more substantial, however, causes a problem because the batting tee does not yield when struck and therefore damages the bat as well as the tee. Many bats are much more expensive than the batting tee, creating a need, to which the present invention is directed, for a durable batting tee which is less likely to damage a bat which strikes it.
Other objects, and the advantages, of the batting tee of the present invention will be made clear to those skilled in the art by the following description of a presently preferred embodiment thereof.
These objects are achieved by providing a batting tee comprising a base, an upright mounted to the base, and a swing arm mounted at one end to the upright. In a preferred embodiment, the swing arm is substantially horizontal and a bristle brush is mounted to the end of the swing arm opposite the end mounted to the upright for supporting a ball thereon, i.e., at the end of the horizontal section of the swing arm. The bristle brush is preferably mounted to the swing arm in a position lower than the horizontal section of the swing arm. In one particularly preferred embodiment, the swing arm is also comprised of a vertical portion and is mounted to the upright with the vertical portion telescopically received on the upright so that the height of the ball can be adjusted and so that the position of the ball relative to the base can be adjusted.